The present invention pertains to the telephone equipment art and, more particularly, to a telephone control system and method which allows subscribes to place and /or receive telephone calls in a more convenient fashion.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a telephone control system is provided for connection to (i) a telephone network including a plurality of long distance carriers and (ii) a telephone station, the station including a dialer for generating dialing signals used in making telephone calls direct to telephone network addresses. The control system includes a detector for detecting dialing signals generated by the dialer and outputting data corresponding thereto; memory for storing outputted by the detector and for storing previously supplied network routing information, the data including at least a portion of a telephone network address; and a processor for processing the data outputted by the detector to determine if such data indicates that a telephone call being made from the station is to be routed via one of the plurality of different long distance services. If the data so indicates, then the telephone control system causes the call to be so routed by supplying routing information to the network and providing the one of the plurality of different long distance services with identification data related to the station, the memory and the processor cooperating so that dialing signals may be generated by the dialer without having to wait for network connections to be made by the network.
This aspect of the invention allows the telephone subscriber to select a preferred long distance service provider before a long distance call is initiated and makes the dialing of long distance calls via the preselected long distance service provider much more convenient than it was in the prior art.
In a related aspect, the present invention provides a method of connecting a calling telephone station to a remote telephone station in connection with a telephone call initiated by a subscriber at the calling telephone station via a telephone network, the network including a plurality of different long distance carriers, and using a long distance carrier selected by a subscriber. The method includes detecting dialing signals generated at the calling telephone station and outputting data corresponding thereto; storing data outputted by the detector, the data including at least a portion of a telephone network address of the remote telephone station; storing previously supplied network routing information; and processing the data outputted by the detector to determine if such data indicates that the telephone call being made from the calling telephone station is to be routed via one of the plurality of different long distance services. And if the data so indicates, then causing the telephone call to be so routed by supplying routing information to the network. The one of the plurality of different long distance services is provided with identification data related to the station. Additionally, the dialing signals generated at the calling telephone station occur without having to wait for network connections to be made by the network. In another aspect, the present invention provides a remotely accessible telephone control system for connecting to a telephone circuit from a telephone exchange, the system comprising: a detector for detecting signals on the telephone circuit; a signal generator responsive to control signals to produce predetermined signals and apply same to the telephone circuit; a memory; and a central processing unit programmed to monitor signals on the telephone circuit as detected by the detector, access the memory and produce and applying predetermined control signals to the signal generator. The central processing unit is also programmed to: (a) identify a first call to the system, (b) recall from the memory a predetermined transfer number, (c) produce control signals to cause the signal generator to apply appropriate signals to the telephone circuit to complete a call to the predetermined transfer number, (d) instruct the telephone exchange to connect the first call to the predetermined transfer number, (e) identify a second call from a remote user indicating a desire change in the predetermined transfer number, (f) receive from the remote user the newe transfer number, and (g) load into the memory the new transfer number.
In yet another aspect the present invention provides a remotely accessible telephone control system for connection to at least one telephone circuit from a telephone exchange. The system preferably comprises a detector for detecting signals on the telephone circuit; a signal generator responsive to control signals to produce predetermined signals and apply such signals to the telephone circuit; a memory; and a central processing unit for monitoring signals on the telephone circuit as detected by the detector, accessing the memory and producing and applying predetermined control signals to the signal generator. The central processing unit also: receives a call to the system from a remote user via the telephone exchange; identifies a remote user desired call control function; produces control signals to cause the signal generator to apply all appropriated signals to the telephone exchange to accomplish the desired call control function while maintaining the remote user call to the telephone exchange; recalls from the memory a predetermined transfer number; produces control signals to cause the signal generator to apply appropriate signals to the telephone circuit to complete a call to the predetermined transfer number; instructs the telephone exchange to connect the remote user to the predetermined transfer number; identifies a call from the remote user indicating a desired change in the predetermined transfer number; receives from the remote user the new transfer number; and loads the predetermined transfer number into memory. In still yet another aspect the present invention provides a communications system comprising: a central processing unit and a communications switch connected with a telephone network and with the central processing unit, the central processing unit operating under program control (i) to detect a call from a caller directed to a subscriber via the telephone network and to initiate, in response to the call, a plurality telephone calls to different stored telephone numbers for the purpose of establishing communication with the subscriber and (ii) to detect a call from the subscriber via the telephone network and to allow the subscriber to program the system during the call from the subscriber to change at least one of the stored telephone numbers.
Other aspects of the invention and further features thereof will become apparent to the reader upon reading the detailed descriptions set forth in the following pages and the appended claims. Those descriptions should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which are described below.